MOVED!!!

Hi guys and girls,I have now officially moved to my new blog page at www(d0t)blog(d0t)xiao-zhai(dot)net Kindly update your links.Sorry for all the inconvenience. Thank you and have a nice day.

Beta

Beta testing www.blog.xiao-zhai.net

Moving

I am considering moving this blog to my own domain over the next few weeks.Yes,I have my own domain for more than a year now.I am thinking to power it by Wordpress.Would have more control over the categorising and archiving the comments made.I am not too sure on how to transfer the previous comments on haloscan to the wordpress.Probably might need to input manually.Worst comes to worst,might just have to leave them.Not really used to wordpress template codes just yet.Thinking of redesigning the template,so it might take some time.Probably will get it done within the next few months. Till then,this blog would probably not be updated as frequent. Adios

And so EPL Season has begun.....

.....so is the local indoor soccer championship here in the small town and I was IN it!!! Here is the story of how I "joined." After dinner,I was doing the dishes in the kitchen,one friendly bloke dropped by to recruit some players for a game,which I presume to be a friendly with all the other guys I am not familiar with.I thought,well,I just had my fill so better not run around so I said no. Moments later,after doing the dishes,my friend and groupmates,A.H. came to knock on my door. A.H:"You in for a soccer game?" XZ :"Well,I just had my dinner.I don't think I would run around.Anyway,where you guys would be playing?(I was under the impression they playing full field soccer under floodlights,that would be so cool)" A.H:"Some indoor place." XZ:"Oh,I see,you guys playing indoor soccer." A.H:"Yeah,come on,just a game,I will wait for you at the common room." XZ:"Ah well,why not?I think I would need to do some exericise anyway." And so,I got changed and went down to the indoor place.It has been nearing 3 years since I last kicked a ball in an indoor game.Used to play it leisurely back in college,but the standard in university got higher and thus I chose to focus on my first love,basketball. When I first reached,everyone introduce ourselves.Well,that usually happened when you try to get some kakis to play the game.Everyone seems to be a stranger,but as the game goes on,you will know them.Something I like about all these sports,you can just walk up to almost anyone and join a game,like in a pickup basketball. But I found a few things a bit strange.

1. The other team was in a uniform colour.
2. We got a referee(wah...I thought so high standard 1 here,friendly also need referee)
3. Got an electronic scoreboard.
4. Got a time limit.
5. The other team looked very unclely
6. They got a 2 metre guy in the other team.

And so the game begins,as five of us in the team barely know each other much less the position we played in,we concede an early goal 1 minute into the game. 3 minutes into the game,our "Henry" (almost every team has its own Henry nowadays) dribbled past 2 defenders and send in a venomous shot that the keeper punched poorly,and the surging relatively unknown XZ broke clear of his marker and caught the ball in mid-air cleanly with his weaker left foot and send the ball back into the top corner.Score 1-1.The crowd all stood up and applaud the majestic goal.Ok,I was just joking bout the crowd but seriously I thought that was my best shot at a goal.That was as clean as a volley can get.Hmm...probably I still have some nice touches left in me after so many years off the game. Then reality hit.That goal must be hell of a jackpot of the jackpot.Something like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mice.I realised that I couldn't control the ball at all when the ball landed at my feet.Darn.... As the game wore on, I seemed not able to get enough air into my lung.It's been too long since I last did any strenous exercise.At one point,I thought of substituting myself with the guys in the other team.I still thought it was a friendly.But what to do,want to make my money worth,I stubbornly stayed on the field. First half ended with the score 7-5 to us. We had quite a good game. One of the guys in my team mentioned that they lost to them last season.Huh?Last season?Oh,probably they meant autumn.That explains why those uncles were pretty good(ok,by my standard,not comparable to the university standard at all) themselves. Second half,I was huffing and puffing around the field.Too tired.Feet won't move.Sad to say we conceded 3 goals,all were my fault one way or the other.We lost 8-7.Great game,I'd say.It's been a while since I last played anyway,and to get a goal was a plus. It was then the guys in our team started talking about losing to them last season and all.Shaked hands and all and then prepare to go back.I was pretty surprised.What?!Just one game,and we go?Kinda not worth it to do my laundry after spending so little time sweating.Normally back in Malaysia,we booked the court for like what?2 hours probably?What to do,they were driving,not me.I just have to follow them. It was at the counter; Lady : "Guys,please write down your names here." XZ :"Huh?(Why so mah fan 1?Need to write name and phone number somemore of everyone) Henry: "Oh,it was the team sheet,you guys were late just now,so I guess now it would be a good time to fill all in." XZ:"Huh?(Then it suddenly dawned on me)Wait a minute,you mean the game just now was not a friendly? Henry:"That was a competition just now,the game you guys just played." XZ:"(WTH!!??)Does that mean I just played in a competition?" Henry:"Yeah,you would need to work on your stamina if you wanna stay on the field,today is the first game,so kinda hard to gather the team together." A.H:"Cut this bloke some slack,man.He got like what,5 minutes to get ready?" XZ:".........(speechless)" And so there is the story of how I score my first competitive goal in an indoor soccer.My legs are still feeling sore at the moment.Should I play again next week?Hmm....... And EPL,should be quite a good season.Chelsea doesn't seem to be as strong or cohesive as last season.What to do,internal family conflicts.Gotta see how Man United cope with just 3 proven strikers.Liverpool looked rather strong.I expect Tottenham to improve a lot this season to challenge the traditional frontrunners.Arsenal,Wenger should be able to buy some players with the opening of Emirates Stadium.Would be nice to see Tomas Rosicky scoring goals for contenders for goals of the season.Newcastle hopefully won't underperform this time round. Adios,till next update.

The One...

...friend whom I have known for the better part of my life.Our story probably went way back. Both he and I.... ....probably known each other since we were 5 years old or maybe earlier. ....live in the same neighbourhood. ....studied in the same kindergarten,primary school,secondary school,college & all through 2 and a half year of university. ....went to school together during most of those time as well(same carpool,same buses and etc.) ....have our fair share of issues,but none not resolved. ....have not traded fists with each other before. ....have probably known each other's house like his own house. ....love durians!!! ....seldom talk about our problems,but would watch each others' back nevertheless. ....probably like the same girl more than once. ....the list goes on..... Happy 22nd birthday,my best friend.I don't think you read the blog here.Just wanna wish you here nevertheless. Wish you all the best in your future.Hope you become a good doctor.Till we meet again,take care.

A Blue Friday

We got a tute with a surgeon at 8 a.m. and the hospital is half an hour walk away.So you could imagine getting up at probably 6.45 a.m. to get ready and all.Rushed all the way to the hospital only to find the surgeon turn up half an hour later.Never mind that since they got more important things to attend to besides teaching the medical students.It warmed my hear that he did apologise for being late though.So we are not definitely the amoebas that medical students are always spoken as. Midway through the tute,the beeper went off.Beep! Beep! It was getting on my nerve by the moment.I couldn't believe what I saw there and then. "RESPOND BLUE,MED 4" What should I do?OMG.We were not told on how should medical student respond to such code.It was my belief before that we won't be getting any code.Blue is a med code here,primarily for AMI,but can be used for other med emergencies that require urgent assistance.I thought I would get up and rush there at once. It sure sent the adrenaline into my blood.Heart rate raised,pupils dilated,you became more aware of the surrounding.Quick,take your own pulse.I gathered my thought for a moment,then I realised,maybe the system is set up so that when a blue code is called,everyone would be paged,anyone who got their hands free and able to leave behind the task they were doing to get to the place to render their assistance of any kind.I showed it to my mate next to me and he didn't think anything of it.Thus,I thought nothing of it too and just switched it off.What can we,medical students do anyway?We probably would be more trouble than help. I looked at the surgeon still going about his talk on breast cancer. "I am sorry,Mr. I didn't quite catch the last part just now." It was at the end of the day that I realised something peculiar. The surgeon's pager didn't go off.

Small Things.....

....that make you feel big. Hope I won't grow to hate this bugger too soon.

Breathing a New Life....

I can see that she is getting more and more restless as the days went by. Getting weaker and weaker,she is not able to perform daily activities the way she used to be doing without much fuss,moving and jumping around and making lots of noise,never failing to make me smile.She was there when I needed her most,in the darkest of hour and the most terrible fear.Probably her heart is failing.Falls and knocks were not able to knock her down but no one can win against the wind of times,the wears and tears brought upon by the ticking of the clock. It was with a lots of uncertainties and fear I went into the operating theatre with her.It was my first operation of this kind I am to perform.Who could be a better patient or teacher in this field of mine than the one whom you come to know dearly?When you are put into such a spot,all the training and knowledge you have learnt by heart before would goes down to nothing if the operation fails.It was all or nothing.Pass or fail,nothing in between.A pass would breath a new life into her,if a fail,she might have just said her last words to me before we went into the operating theatre.Luck and instincts might just be your best friend in the operating theatre.I am supposed to remove her heart temporarily and replace with the one from the donor.Thus,there would be a few minutes where she would be nothing more than a corpse without a heart.We would place the donor's heart into her and restart it with a mild shock from the defibrillator at the touch of a button to start her into a sinus rhythm.After that,it will all goes down to luck. Who would expect to experience this sort of thing during the surgery posting of an aspiring medical student?No one would..... Hehe.Actually I just managed to successfully replaced the aging battery of my T3 with a new one I just got from Ebay.All the data stored was lost due to the removal of the previous battery(volatile flash memory) and the restore from the backup was successful and it is up and running again.WOO HOO~~~~~~ Anyone need any help with T3 battery,I would be happy to help.Till next update.Adios

Fall From Grace

And so the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 has been concluded with the Azzurri as the winner.The match would most probably be remembered as the wizard of the modern game,Zinedine Zidane,having never completed his last competitive game by getting himself sent off for headbutting an Italian player.15 years of greatness lost in a 15 second of madness.I really want to know what was exchanged between Materrazi and Zidane that causes him to short-fuse.It will take a lot to get an experienced player like him to lose his head.The world is probably going to argue whether his sending off contributes to the eventual loss to the Italian.It is going to be the all the "what if" arguments normally heard in football commentatories.So what if you were right then,would it change anything?Anyone can reflect on the past and churns out these possiblities.No one can foresee the future for sure though but one can definitely make it happen. On another note,sometimes it really sucks watching the game from a country which participated in the World Cup.Commentatories are so biased that sometimes it really pisses me off.Luckily,the commentator during the match itself that they employed was Martin Tyler whose voice is commonly heard in English Premier League on ESPN.Now they are going to keep reminding us that they lost to the eventual winner by the narrowest of a margin.Then again,I am technically a foreigner here,so maybe I should keep my mouth shut till I got back to Malaysian soil. Outside,the Italians seem to be over the world.Honking and shouting at the success of their national team.Really have to applaud their team for coming together at such a troubled with their scandals-plagued Serie A.Maybe would get down to the Italian street and have a look.Who knows I might have some free pizzas or pastas. Till then,adios.

Living skill

I think one of the best living skills to have would be knowing how to cook. Well,I have to admit,I am not one who frequently step into the kitchen before I came here. My Granma doesn't like me to be in the kitchen either.She always tell me I am helping when I am not helping.No,Maggi mee and its like cannot be regarded as cooking to me unless you can fry till the whole wok in flame while doing a few stunts with the food,tossing it 3 feet up and catching with your eyes closed. I haven't seen anyone cook instant noodles like that yet. If you do,I wonder what you can do with things more than instant noodles.Ok,a bit exaggerating here. I doubt no one can disagree that cooking is a very useful living skill to know of,especially when you are studying in a foreign country where costs of food and everything else are multiplied a few times.It will save you a lot of money and might just be your hobby if you find it enjoyable.More often than not, you might be forced to cook on your own for economic reason.For those of my friends who are heading out to further their studies in the coming months,especially guys,take up cooking lessons.Might just win you some female fans.Ok,I haven't got to that level of skill as yet.Hehe. Come to think of it,since I was here,I have learned something about cooking,from buying the raw materials till the finished dishes.Before this,I was limited to those instant products and a little thing of two of "Backwood cooking",some simple cooking skills I learned for use in the jungle while I was in scout.The coolest thing I learned then was something that involves cooking rice in the jungle with nothing more than a bamboo. Food I cooked may not be as tasty as I would like to be but I will get there eventually and hopefully. If you are still considering whether to try cooking yourself,I say,why not?"What's there to lose besides your pride?"as to quote a favourite saying of mathematics lecturer of mine.Understandably, most of us,if not all of us are afraid of making mistakes.I guess that applies for cooking as well.You most probably won't get it right the first time.Think carefully,what would you do if you are not afraid,of let say making a mistake?Fear of being wrong sometimes hold your life back a little too much. My suggestion,start small,like helping your Mum buying and preparing the ingredients,then you move on to the frying and etc.Then you will learn more as you go on.Like my Dad says to me so often,"As long as the food is cooked enough,nothing will go wrong.Next step will be improving its taste." Maybe I will talk about some simple basics about cooking next time(not that I am qualified though,but just something useful to share)Till next update,Adios.

Life’s 10 Simple Pleasures

Life’s 10 Simple Pleasures 1. To be able to see 2. To be able to hear 3. To be able to speak 4. To be able to read 5. To be able to write 6. To be able to play sports 7. To be able to have a good education 8. Having enough food and a roof over my head 9. Having just enough wealth to keep me comfortable 10. Having a happy & supportive family behind me

World Cup Feva

Ok...This post may seem a bit too late.Been sleeping from 7 am till 5 pm here,especially now we are going into the knockout phase.All for the World Cup season.Luckily I am currently having a long break now.However,things here are rather different from the way we catch football back in Malaysia.There are no mamak.Dang....no Nasi Lemak,teh tarik and etc since most shops close before 7 pm,excepting the Chinatown and pubs,which aren't the kinda place I would like to catch football. Australia made it through to the last 16. Whoah......A country where football means rugby and with the same population size as Malaysia got into the last 16.I wonder whether I will ever get to sing Negaraku in a World Cup Finals match.That will definitely be something good to remember. Australia is playing Italy. As much as odds favour the Azzuri,but we must always remember South Korea in 2002. Till then adios.

"Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen. Soccer is a gentleman's game played by beasts. Football is a beastly game played by beasts. " -Henry Blaha, 1972-

Names Again

The last post didn't quite come out as what I had in mind. I always have the propensity to lose focus on things I am doing. Anyway,on names,yeah English names,like Sheena,Elena,Tina,Xena,Zina,Kannina Some people I heard have some of the rather unique name,like Devil, Apple and etc. English names seem to help others to identify you more easily,especially in a generally English speaking community. Anyway,I used to ponder whether I should take up an English name as well,but in the end decided against it.Boys be boys,girls be girls,Xiao be Xiao although it can be quite ambiguous when calling out my name in a different tone or compelemented by different lah or ah. Example Siao-ah!(in a rather frustated tone) = crazy-ah Siao-ah?(questioning tone = is it Xiao? Siao-ah=(calling Xiao) Siao-lor= It is Xiao. Siao-lor=Laugh lor Hao Siao=Good Xiao Hao siao=darn small Hao siao=good laugh one of the many examples,no doubt the first 3 definitely gave me a hard time interpreting what the other party really means. Anyway,so there was once,when I was feeling rather mischievous,I identified myself with an English name. Well, in Coffeebean,after you order your drinks especially the ice-blended,you are required to wait for a while before they call you out loud to collect your ready drinks at the other side of the counter. Normally,it will be different people handling the drink and the cash counters. So,one day,I thought,maybe I should try to adopt an English name,something different,something I haven't seen in my friends' names. Finally, I decided on one name. I went to the counter to order my drink and introduce myself as "Mcginnis." I have to repeat it a few times and the guy didn't quite catch it,and I finally I spelt the name for him. Hehe.....it is going to be a real trouble for the guy handling the drinks counter. Then,while I was waiting there,it suddenly dawned on me,what if the guy mispronounce it and I have to get to the counter and collect it. All eyes in the cafe would be on me then. Darn. It may backfired.A few possiblities I thought of, he could come up with "Mr Mengganas,Mr Mengganas" Darn..... A friend of mine came up with a rather interesting way to pronounce it.. "Mr Manganese,Mr Manganese" Unsurprisingly,she was a science student too.She even laughed at me for thinking of a name coming from the Periodic Table in chemistry. Anyway back to the cafe,the moment of truth.The guy manning the counter hesitate a while before hollering: "Mr Mac-Genies,Mr Mac-Genies" Some stifled laughters were heard. That must be my drink, for no one would have such a funny-sounding name,I thought.I quickly ran to the counter to collect my drink before all the searching eyes in the cafe pinpoint where that name was coming from. Darn...what did I get myself into then? That would be that last time I am pulling such stunts.Anyway,the "correct" way I heard of pronouncing this name would be "Merck-Ga(i)n-Ness"

Name

Those who know me personally knew that I am quite a caffeine-addict. Well,I hang out quite often at Coffeebean or Starbucks(if really desperate) with a good book in my hand. Darn,that makes me sound like a loser. Ah.....never mind. I personally like reading quite a lot. As the saying goes quite sometimes ago in the radio back in Malaysia,"the more you read the better you're read." Wah,remember all these sayings, give my England a bit of "chim" sound to it. Anyway,back to the main topic. English name or rather Christian name you call it,some of us have it,some of us don't have it and probably some of us thinking of having it. I am actually comfortable with people calling me by my just my surname actually - Xiao(as in the chinese han yu pin yin) During my younger years, of course,kids being kids, a lot of people made fun of my name especially my surname,which I take it well,for well,because of my the name people call me,people remember me. Nevertheless,I was quite proud of my name then.So the name did serve me well until one day the English teacher(way back in 1993) said,"Who would want to volunteer to read the passage?" No one volunteered as we just got into Standard 3 that time. The teacher was a bit foreign to us,just like us to her but she well remembered there was a boy by the name of Xiao and so she boomed "Xiao,read." "Oh shit!" wasn't the first word that came to my mind then.My England was still in its infancy then. "Alamak,"I thought. My England not powderful enough then. The passage was so long somemore. Luckily I managed to cope quite well until I came across a slightly foreign word. Hmm...maybe I could impress the teacher by reading the word out aloud like any other words(you see,most people,soften down their tone when they are not sure)Then,it happened. The whole class bursted out laughing uncontrollably.The word?

MOSQUE

The"smart" me then read it as....

MOS-QUE

...reason being: Mos= "mos"quito Que= "queue" TRAUMA!!!TRAUMA,man...I tell you guys TRAUMA!!! However,I am actually grateful for that, I would never forget how to pronounce the word.Luckily,I had a good and kind English teacher to thank for that too.(not too sure about the standard of English in primary school now) Thank you,Ms Parvinder(I think this is her name),or whoever who used to teach English class in 3 Biru in SRK St. Joseph,Johor Bahru in 1993.If you happen to be reading this blog,teacher,I have a proud confession to make,I am sorry you only caught me TWICE with your "flying chalks" excluding once the "flying duster" I got from you when I talked in your EVERY class during the year. Hehe.....remembering old times......the name still serves me quite well,when some of my former schoolmates walked up to me and called me Xiao here in Melbourne.Sorry if my goldfish-memory can't recall their name,but hey,you only know Xiao but not my last name so that's fair enough!

I Thought...

.....I am quite an optimistic guy until I came across this blog, a real life story about a girl hit by cancer. She is just 25 years old.It was with regrets that I wrote this,for I was not lucky enough to have met you in real life,much less know you. This is a girl who made my optimism seemed like nothing. My deepest condolence to her family. May God bless them all. With that said,I would like to thank you for sharing your life with the rest of us. You might not be reading this but I am quite sure the view from among the stars is just as clear.You have given me quite an insight on the people whom I might be meeting and dealing with in the future in my line of duty. I will be sure to remind myself to keep my humanity and compassion,to treat every patient no less equal than the others. You made me realise I might not have and would never have the ability to win the battle against death,but, might have an effect as great as death itself,if not worse,with every words I spoken,every faces I made or action or inaction I took. Lest I forget,by any means,be sure to guide me back here to what I have written myself. I miss home.Being so far away do leave me with a feeling of insecurity.Pray that there won't be any untoward incidents happening to my family while I am away,and hopefully nothing too when I am with them.I have a bad feeling I can't desribe.Is it the coming exam or something else?

Post-Convocation

IMU convocation for the M2/03 batch was just over.No,I wasn't there.But that's the only thing that I can think of for the title after going through others' blogs.I am here in cold weather of Melbourne,preparing for my coming Finals in a week time.~~Sigh~~What a life...Gotta blog some shit today after which would be back to the books. Hmm......this convo word seemed to stir some memory in the time leading up to the EoS. A fellow batchmate would be remembered for her outstanding academic achievement in times to come.Like in 2020,people might be heard saying,"Wow,that's the girl who got the gold Medal.You know her?" Well,I thought I did quite a good job carving my name in another way.There are many ways to fame.I didn't do it ala some Paris persona style,of course.Who knows,in 2020,while strolling along the street,I might heard,"Wasn''t the guy who got the biggest temper in university last time?"If they can recall my name then,I might be elated.If they don't,I will prove why I got the title then.......

W for wolframium

Wolframium is another word for Tungsten. That's why Tungsten's symbol is W in the periodic table(Remember chemistry?) Thanks to wonders of internet,I can have that information in matters of seconds. Anyway,I won't be talking about the Tungsten that is used to make the bulbs filaments. It is about time to provide some insight into PDA usage. I am talking about my Tungsten T3 - a PDA,a personal digital assistant. Of course, I would much prefer an assistant that comes in "better packaging." *cough cough* I won't say my T3 looks great,it has experienced some quite rough use under the previous owner, but it sure does works great so far. I have to admit I quite like the sliding screen of T3 myself, compared to the new Palms which feature equivalent sized screen but non-slidable. I don't know I would trade a T3 for those bulkier looking PDAs. Of course,money is another problem. I have noticed Hehe... Like those PDAs-enabled-medical students, I have put it some medical studies related softwares. Currently in my PDA are

1. Harrisons 16th edition - well, I am not sure about the usage of Harrisons Principles of Internal Medicine elsewhere, but here, in Melbourne, it seemed to be the main source of reference for anything. I can't remember the umpteenth when in a PBL, the words "Oh,you will find it Harrisons";"I remembered reading in Harrisons....." and etc. What I have got in my PDA is not the full version of Harrisons. It was a concise version of it. It is handy to recall the facts you HAVE read in the bigger Harrisons. However,it is most handy when I need to sleep at night. On the PDA, read for a few minutes, and voila....a good night sleep ensues.
2. Oxford Handbook of Clinical Med 6 - Remember those yellow small Oxford books we always try to bring to postings and trainings in hope that if any unforeseen problems crop up,we will able to refer to it. I still haven't got around navigating the PDA version of it,seem to be quite an hassle. However,it has quite an interesting feature in Palms, the ability to add a personal topic. Thanks to Dr. House and broadband, I have added a new topic to mine - Naegleria meningoencephalitis, partly for the fun of it. Of course, nothing gives you better sense of security other than holding a hard,rather thick and concise clinical book in your sweaty hand when you are confronting a mean-looking consultant in the wards.
3. Dorlands - Medical dictionary,enough said
4. A2Z Drugs - when you need to refresh your memory about drugs and its actions, provided you knew them before of course.
5. 5 minutes Clinical Consult 2005 - recently installed, I personally don't use it much. I normally fall back on my books and the Oxford I had in my PDA.

I have been trying to utilise the PDA to help me with my studies. I used to have scribbled a lot on papers but as I am not a good organiser of my things, those papers where I have written some measly few critical notes,are sure hard to find at times. I still use paper and pen of course. PDA input,no matter how, is still slower than pen and paper. But the greatest thing I think you can do with my T3 is the voice recording of those sleep-inducing-insomnic-therapeutic lectures. That definitely beats the input of pen & paper provided there is not too much audio interference. Record, move it to my laptop and listen to the lectures I have slept through and....sleep again. PDAs, I tell you are quite evil at that, lull me into sleepiness in lectures because back in my heart I knew I won't miss much of it. At the end of day,when you playback the lecture you "missed",what you didn't realise is that there is a guy next to you who is having a bad time with his throat and coughing every now and then. Time to buy a friend lunch.....for lending you his notes. Okay,I know,all of us, at one time or another, have bought PDAs for entertainment on the pretext of "organising" your life.Hehe.... So far, I have only put in TextTwist and Sudoku into my T3 to make sure there is something to pass my time while waiting for friends or next lectures. My T3 could have doubled up as an MP3 player if I have space to spare of course in the 128mb SD. It's really time to get a bigger SD but things are quite expensive here as compared to Lowyat. Must tahan till end of year...... Since it is a second hand model I bought, I am considering to invest in a new battery. Palm as far as I know, don't have replaceable battery for T3. In fact,it should not be replaceable. So you got those dunno-what-company making batteries for T3,it will involve a little bit of screwing and unscrewing on your own to get it done,hoping that in the process of doing so, you didn't leave any damage to its innards. I just realised T3 has a volatile memory as compared to the newer Tx and T5.Volatile memory means the data stored inside the PDA(PDA storage and your SD card storage are 2 seperate storage) would be lost if it runs out power.Newer models won't experience that. Wonder what problem could have happen if I replace the battery. Maybe I shouldn't do anything to it ......yet.....

Deleting zero bytes files

Had a couple of botched downloads sitting on my desktop. They somehow turned into zero bytes undeletable files. Finally found a way around it thanks to google. 1. Close all open programs. 2. Open a command prompt. 3. Right-click the taskbar, and select task manager 4. On the Processes tab, select Explorer.exe, and click the End Process button. 5. Minimize Task Manager, but don't close it. 6. At the command prompt, use the delete command to remove the file, and close the command prompt. 7. In Task Manager, go to File | New Task (Run). 8. In the Create New Task dialog box, enter Explorer.exe, and click OK. 9. Close Task Manager. Hope this will help those having the same problems.

My "New" Companion

Just got myself a "new" companion - a Palm PDA. Well,it is not really new, I got it off ebay,so yeah,it is a second hand Tungsten T3. Been bugging YP with all sorts of questions about it,well she used to own the same model. Thanks a lot YP for your patience if you are reading this. It's been 4 days of "hotsyncing",frustations,googling and learning how to scribble all sorta characters on the tiny transflective screen.Just managed to link my laptop, handphone and T3 via bluetooth the other day.(Refer to previous post) There seems to be a lot of things this tiny rectangular gadget can do. Probably,like the rest of the medical students, I have installed some medical softwares into it and will see how it will assist me or my rather forgetful brain.Seems like 128 MB is not really enough. Looking at upgrading it to 512 mb or probably 1GB SD card. Will see how this little electronic companion complement my brain.......hopefully not the other way round...

Test

Test post from Tungsten T3

Test

Test post from Tungsten T3

My Human Growth Chart

Since my earliest memory was when I was 5 years old,I shall start with 5 5 y/o : "Cry and I will get my toy" 6 y/o : "Better do my homework, I don't want to be caned" 7 y/o : "No use crying, Dad is not going to get my toy anyhow" 8 y/o : "You reap what you sow" 9 y/o : "Good guys always win the bad guys" 10 : "Mosque is not pronounced as most-queue" 11 : "Dad seems to know and able to fix everything under the sun" 12 : "First major exam, must do well" 13 : "Hmm....strange. Why the rest of the students seem to be polarised?" 14 : "No,Mum.You don't need to hold my hand anymore. I wont get lost" 15 : "I think I know as much things as Dad.Oh by the way,Dad,this is what is written here......" 16 : "I can fix my computer better than my Dad,slowly catching up to the 324,657 things he can fix" 17 : "Good deeds are not always repaid with its equal" 18 : "OMG.....she sure is stunning.I can die happy already" 19 : "In life, efforts are not the only that decide things." 20 : "I know,I know, Dad. Study hard and I do not have to worry about funding. You said you will find a way.By the way, you gotta watch your blood pressure and sugar intake." 21 : "Life sometimes is just so not fair,it was never meant to be anyway." 21+ : "Air sure smells different in a westernised country but things are sure expensive here" Adios.

Anzac Day

Today is a public holiday for Australia and New Zealand,so I thought might as well do some update here,as urged by my dear Eugenia. So what is this ANZAC day all about?Did some searches throught wiki, our friendly web Mr Know-it-all. It stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - ANZAC. Sounds a bit mitalitarist here, had a special day allocated to celebrate the army? Actually, the day is reserved to commomerate those who perished in the battle during the World War I,specifically the ANZAC,during the attack on the Gallipoli beach in Turkey.The ANZAC was the vanguard,as in being the first to rush to the battlefield.It is the D-day for the Australian and NZ army, like the D-day for Allied forces attacking German in France back then. However as Murphy's Law state, "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong",the navigators apparently screwed up then. Instead of landing at a coast where there is not-so-steep beach to advance,they landed at a coast facing a hill,tranlating a relatively walk by the seaside into an literally uphill task. From then on,the battle turned into a massacre of the invading army. It sorta reminds me of the Tugu Negara back in KL.The communists, Rundingan Baling and etc.Hmm....come to think of it,I haven't seen that Tugu for ages. Shall add to the things to do when I go back to Malaysia. I should be studying instead of reading some boring historical articles here. One more thing, just want to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to Yi Wei, Song and Sheena. Adios...

Introducing....... Amateur Transplants

Eternal Clerking(to the tune of Eternal Flame) Do come in, Please close the door, Thankyou, Tell me what's been the problem. How long has this been for? Does it feel the same? Is there any bleeding? With this burning, or just internal pain? Does it spread, to your back? Does it, sometimes wake you from sleeping? Are your motions black? Are you passing blood? Is it on the paper, Or mixed in with it? Just when did it start? How long ago? Tell me do you smoke? Take any medication? Have you ever had a stroke? Have you had rheumatic fever? No? Funny that. Close your eyes, Give me your hands, Say �ah�, I'll listen to your heart beating. Please say �ninety-nine�, �ninety-nine�, �ninety-nine�! You look a bit anaemic. Now here's some questions, we ask everyone� Say your name, What's the date today? When did World War 1 start? What's the current monarch�s name? Can you take seven from a hundred? Again! Again! Again! Again! Now what's the address I asked you to remember? Just sit back, Let me lie you flat, Tell me if I hurt you, And I'm sorry but after that, I need to pop a gentle finger in� Uh hum� Dry your eyes, Give me your hand, madam, Kindly stop with your weeping, You must understand, That we really need To investigate you �Cos you have got an intestinal bleed� Source So someone has beaten me to it....Darn....have to admire their creativity sometimes.

Life is nothing but a dream......

I was surfing through blogs when I came across this post by my fellow batchmate back in IMU, Adeline. She put into words very well thoughts I hope to banish aside. It brought back memories of my former schoolmates, a lot of whom I can put to the face of H mentioned. Many of them, I realised I have lost contact with or probably I did not try to keep in contact with them.I probably feared them. The friendly voices of optimism that were once spoken like brothers-in-arms were replaced with distinctively foreign voices of cynism, hardened by the dreams that we used to share.We worked so hard together believing that hard work will pay in the future.But their dreams were broken by the realities of life but not mine. I guessed I was really luckier. Some of them have to give up their dream totally in order to survive. I could be in their shoes if not for the lucky break I got to support my tertiary study. We used to scorn a mouthful on those lucky rich brats together but now we come to realise that my standing is probably not much different from those who used to scorn. I have crossed the line. In that, we grew apart. Friends come and go in life. I don't really believe the saying "The older you get, the more people you know, the less friend you have" but sometimes it sounded really true at times. Have I gotten more cynical?I hope I have not. I have always been the optimistic one. Thinking of some of the close friends I knew back then, if one of them was to rob me out of desperation one day, I wonder how would I feel or what would I say then?

Memories.....

(Link removed)

New Kids on the Blogs

Just updated the links to my peers' blogs

1. Linda
2. Zen
3. Collin
4. Sarah
5. Eugenia
6. Richard
7. Adeline
8. Ying Wei

Some of them have just picked up blogging, some of them have been blogging for quite some time. Been wanting to update my links for a while now but being a habitual procastinator for this....well.... Finally decided to do it today. I noticed the blog links at the M203 blog is not up to date. Perhaps someone with too much time on hand can probably update it.

A Month Away From Home

Camera : Sony DSC W-1 ; ISO200; f/2.8; 2 second exposure Somewhere near the Crown Casino in Melbourne Did anyone miss me or my bullshits here anyway?It has been a month since I have arrived in Melbourne. Guess what? It was my time on flight and destination is Melbourne. Nothing eventful actually happened during the most part of the flight. The dreaded "Mayday" didn't sound. The masks didn't pop down or anything. How to describe it? Hmm...got me thinking until I came up with something. It is like a bus ride on air. On second thought, a bus ride from KL to JB might just be more interesting than a flight. Well, at least I got to count the numbers of cars cutting queue using the emergency lane only to fight our friendly Traffic police waiting at the end of the lane. Can't suppress a chuckle at them at times. Serves them right nevertheless. But then again, they might just get away with it by becoming victims(or culprit?) of corruption itself. Or maybe a Honda-cup overtaking a BMW 3 series with the motorcyclist hanging on to it for his dear life. Or the bus overtaking the Honda-cup itself. So nothing much happened for the better part of the flight. No turbulence. No cases of AMI or emergency tracheostomy performed in flight. No delivery. Nothing. Zilch. Well, I must have imagined too much. Well, my first idea of flight when I was a kid was of those fighter jets. I wished I would become a pilot too then,despite the fact I don't even dare to get on a roller coaster and afraid of height. They sure look cool though. My interest in flights and planes continued until I was in secondary school when I started to realise it wasn't really a practical career and I got myopic,one of the big no-no I think in becoming a pilot. I think I am one of those few rare people who actually read the autobiography of the Wright brothers. I must be quite weird then,not to say I am not now. So now,I shall talk a bit about Melbourne. Well,where shall I start? Okay, Melbourne is quite a quiet place, much quieter than I expect it to be. There is a quite a big Asian community here.One can get quite a diversed range of Asian food here. Things here are definitely pricier as compared to Malaysia,unless you are earning your wage here on their term, you will be surprised at how cheap things actually are here. A good comparison would be,an hour worth of pay for part time jobs is enough to cover for 2 good meals here. I don't think you can get 2 meals worth if one works part time in Malaysia. Anyway,these are just my estimates. One thing I notice about their university here,is that, the lecturers take a lot of pride in their research activities and history. If I didn't hear wrongly, I think there is one Nobel prize laureaute or maybe a candidate working currently with them. I found out that people do ask a lot of questions here and they do ASK during ongoing lectures a lot actually as compared to those few crowding around the lecturer back in Malaysia. I guess it is part of the "Western" style or probably mentality of education. One good motto to live by here would be "thinking out loud," not mumbling to oneself for a change. Test in a week,signing off from Melbourne for the first time.

Chinese New Year: Past and Present

Chinese New Year celebration had changed over the years,at least for me. Maybe it was part of growing up,if not old.Still remember the times when we were kids? Ang pows seemed to be God-sent gifts,a little red packets containing money which could buy us probably 10 of our favourite ice-creams for every ang pow received.I remember there was once back in the early 90s, I received an ang-pow worth RM20,I was so estatic then. RM 20 then is a lot,considering a chicken rice then cost only RM2. Fast forward to 2006, the red packets seemed to be more colourful and more creative now. You can have geisha pictures on the ang pows promoting the movie, or even the hypermarket name, Carrefour or a lottery company such as Magnum printed on them,working as free ads. I wondered why haven't anyone printed ang pow with our PDRM logo and the motto "Saya anti-rasuah." At least, I can express my courtesy, by greeting them "Gong Xi Fa Cai," whenever I was asked to pit my car in the pit stop they set up at the busiest road with the longest traffics. Besides, those ang pows would not be out of season. So much for the packaging,now for the contents. Ang pows,for me, very rarely break RM20 and never reach RM 50.This year though, I got a few "extra" ang pows,one is for the Chinese New Year itself and another is for luck in continuing my study in overseas. Well,over the years,much have changed. We used to have a lot of firecrackers being lit during Chinese New Year,so much so that one might tinnitus after prolonged exposured to high decibels of the explosive little toys.I am not talking about those red firecrackers only here. Probably it is part of growing up, my brothers,my cousins and I have all grown out of it. Now, firecrackers are still being lit,albeit much less,especially in KL. One can get it if one knows where to get it. Not that I know though. Anyway, we still light up those red firecrackers every Chinese New Year,as if to keep the tradition alive. I guess it s one of the good points of staying far inside an oil palm plantation. Why does Sabah and Sarawak suddenly come to my mind? Hmm....,anyway it was said to be used to drive bad luck and bring good luck to the family - something like that. This post has been sitting in my draft for a very long time but I was busy preparing for my departure arrangements.

Career choice....

How about something different for a change?

Your Scholastic Strength Is Deep Thinking ("Stoning")

You aren't afraid to delve head first into a difficult subject, with mastery as your goal i.e. first to dive,first to die You are talented at adapting, motivating others, managing resources, and analyzing risk,i.e., you are good at telling lies, crapping, delegating and talking more crap. You should major in: Philosophy i.e. primum non nocere Music i.e. Littman Cardiac Auscultation series Theology i.e. "Ohmigod,(fill in your surprise/rant/shout/etc here)" Art i.e. X-rays,ECG, MRI and Cat History (Taking) Foreign language i.e Angiostrongylus, Leptospira,Kingella and etc.

What Should You Major In?

I am just doing this for fun.

The Past is a Prologue

And so all of us left, in such a hurry, where some goodbyes were said, some hugs were given, some tears were wiped,memories shared and one end is another beginning. In years to come, I would look back on my life in IMU,perhaps some moments are worth engraved in my memories. .....I got to know 3 very wonderful Orientation Officers; Aiky, Raymond and Ue.Had some real badass laughter and experience then. ....I got to know a wonderful orientation group; Yee Pei, Yean Koon, Caryn, Rassam,Zi Sien,Giap Heng,Yee Sin,Zakiy...wonder did I miss out anybody? ....I got crowned as the best 3 point shooter,which is much of a fluke than skill. ....I got injured for my first IMU Cup basketball campaign - swollen knee due to synovitis. Was quite heart broken then for it was the first time I broke into a basketball team,even as a bench-warmer. .....I got to know that Sheena was loud and clear, Phang was big and blur. .....I found out Richard was born a day before me, Yean Koon was born a year before me. .....I got to know a person who is probably my relatives a thousand years ago,another Xiao .....I couldn't believe at one time,my entertainment came in the form of happytreefriends. .....I got to know that Shi Ching was second to me in crapping business,but always above me in study. .....I realised I knew a former national celebrity in Yi Wei,then only I found out she is quite a monkey. .....I remembered exolphthalmus by looking at Yee Pei when she was angry:p hehe .....I got to know Ken Jay well when I helped to change his flat tyre and he still owed me a meal over it.Wait a minute,did he? .....I can't dance well,a fact pointed to me by Evelyn. .....I was the only one from my batch who joined the breakdance workshop then. Conclusion,breakdance is not and will never be my thing. .....I was really there for all the matches of M2/03 soccer team's first championship winning season as a supporter and a photographer.Some thought I was the manager because I was still wearing my tie to some of the matches. .....I realised the girl with the shortest name I knew was Linda.Does she even have a Chinese name? .....I never expect to meet Rajinder who was my senior back in secondary school. .....I realised the girls with the shortest frame,I don't really know for there are quite a few contenders. .....I knew Jeremy Robert when he badly injured his ankle during one of the IMU Cup soccer match. .....I found out Aravind was a very strong and responsible person.Correction,he was a bloody strong fella. .....I didn't know Adrian was such a good basketball player when I first met him. .....I found out Justin was quite an idol in the basketball team. .....I found out Woei Ti was very talkative on the court. .....I got to know Chong Hann and Teng Hong during IMU Cup. .....I realised that TJ couldn't grasp our comminucation in Mandarin while on the court. .....I remembered Hiong Chin was immortalised by the banana dance then. .....I couldn't really tell Tean Chun and Daniel in the dimness of the court that I always mistook their names when naming substitution. .....I only got to know Shi Ching during the first elective,who then became my dive buddy and buddy in uni.Before that,it was just another name without a face I could put to. .....I was told that ladies' asses are fatter and thus they float,a fact proven to a certain extent by Nadia and Elena,both of whom I got to know during the diving electives too.Okay,it was just some bullshit I came up with. .....I found out that Paya could sing Cantonese song better than me. .....I couldn't pinpoint the origin of Priya's accent.She spoke with an accent right or I heard wrongly? .....I foolishly believed what Zen told me about her brown colour eyes being some disease which I found out much later it was the colour contacts. .....I found out that Faez is a bloody sturdy and solid defender and yet he told me in PBL in Sem1 "I play footbal so-so ONLY." .....I realised we had quite a small but agile keeper in Shamsul.His replacement,Iqbal was quite big-sized though. .....I can't believe Jan Hoong is such a tall soccer player and he's not a goalkeeper or defender but a playmaker. .....I can never see that Rassam was such a good soccer player and swimmer during orientation. .....I am quite envious of Grace for being so multi-talented. .....I always played the role of lamp-post when I went out with Tu Lip and Lee Teng. .....I thought Sharon always looked well before her age,so was Caryn. .....I only got to know Sooth Jiun after I offered her my spare umbrella.I didn't know who she really was when I offered it. .....I thought Shiva was quite a joker,he could keep a straight face when telling a joke.Wait,maybe he didn't mean it to be a joke in the first place. .....I broke Ivy's hard work on the styrofoam with a misbounced basketball and probably her heart too then.Did I see her sobbing or was it because of the booze I drank then? .....I am jinxed for IMU Cup,got myself injured again just days before the 2nd IMU Cup basketball competition starts. .....I realised Shu Jin could really sprint and Jen Sen couldn't be depended upon for the long distance. .....I was practically blinded during the IMU Ball 2004 for I dropped both my contacts and I left my spare in Calvin's house.I couldn't make out most of the people during the ball. .....I did ask for a girl in the batch to be my date for IMU Ball 2005 but got rejected. .....I realised there were 3 people born on 22nd April;Sheena, Yi Wei and another person who just slipped my mind. .....I respect Chee Wing's guts in joining an open dance competition. .....I am envious of Caryn who knew quite a variety of dance and can dance well too. .....I found out that Jasveen is a cousin of Rajinder only in Semester 5. .....I found out that Herbert is Adeline Teo's uncle not too long before that. .....I found out Ken Lin could play futsal much better than me.She really kicks ass!!! .....I couldn't believe it when Teng told me he was an advanced diver with 50+ dives. .....I addressed Jong Khen "Uncle Chin" and he is quite good in mahjong. .....I always thought Pastor Sivin looked a lot like the Peter I knew.Well,during the CF camp, I had the idea that both of them were really related. .....I thought Yen Shi had quite a good surprise on her 21st birthday planned by Song.More than ten of us went in three cars to her house to give her an unexpected birthday surprise.Her Mum even "conspired" with us to make it a total surprise. .....I finally won some medal in IMU Cup 2005.Bronze in basketball,gold in cheerleading. .....I dared Shi Ching to join the cheerleading in 2004,he did and I didn't keep my promise by joining.Joined it in the last IMU Cup in 2005. .....I couldn't believe I ran a 37.9 Celcius fever 3 days before cheerleading competition day and Yi Wei still got me down on the floor practising.I seemed to have a bad luck in sports-related activities. .....I learned that "fat" is a big no-no word during cheerleading.The girls aren't heavy,the guys are just weak:p .....I only got to know Katherine when she represented our batch in basketball.She was quite good at it,I must say.But I guessed she would be remembered by most by her dress during IMU Ball 2005. .....I couldn't believe I shouted at the whole batch with the microphone in my hand. .....I couldn't believe I have participated in the orientation in my whole 5 semesters. .....I realised I would,for the first time,would not be in the same learning institution,with Soon Liang,after this year. I have been drafting this entry for pretty long time.Well,these were just some of the highlights of the more significant recollection with people I met in university. There was still quite a substantial amount of people I didn't mention though.To those mentioned,thank you.To those not mentioned,thank you too. M2/03,I hereby,wish all of you,smooth sailing ahead.